Jack Ryder (Prime Earth)

Jack Ryder is a reporter and the alter ego of the bizarre vigilante known as the Creeper.

History

Early in his journalistic career, Jack Ryder operated a YouTube channel and reported on the appearance of an interdimensional rift in the sky.^[1] For the World Associated Press and Times, he wrote an article on the murder of a family in the Gotham City suburb of Brisby.^[2] He was granted superhuman powers by the United States Government's Department of Metahuman Affairs and inserted into the heroic community^[3] as the Creeper, a seemingly-deranged vigilante. He encountered the superheroes Batman and the Justice League,^[4] and was considered by United Nations intelligence head Andre Briggs for candidacy in his UN-backed team of international heroes.^[5]

The New 52

In an altered timeline created by the manipulation of history,^[6] Ryder was the host of You Don't Know Jack, a successful if little-respected show on Morgan Edge's Planet Global News network. After quitting his job over an assignment he felt was beneath him, he was recruited by the supernatural Phantom Stranger to report on a monstrous creature's attack on PGN headquarters in Metropolis. Ryder and the creature were both killed during the broadcast, and Edge spun his demise as a hero's death.^[7]

After his death, Ryder's body was shipped to his family in San Francisco for burial. Instead, however, he was resurrected to serve as the unknowing host to the current incarnation of the Creeper, a Japanese Oni demon.^[8] Seeking to kill those who could imprisonment it, the Creeper had Ryder relocate to Japan, where his producer Jed Block secured work for him with Japan-TV. By night, the demon took over his body, leaving Ryder with memory blackouts when he regained control with the sunrise.^[9] Returning to the United States of America, in San Francisco, he starred in a new show, Life After Death, in which he reported on crimes committed by the Creeper.^[10]

DC Rebirth

Following the return of Wally West, a survivor of the prior timeline,^[6] the Creeper reverted to his original form, though remained a distinct personality from that of Jack Ryder.^[11] In Metropolis, Ryder reported on the mysterious new hero Superwoman for the media conglomerate the Daily Star.^[12]

Investigating Deathstroke

Ryder once followed a series of killings apparently done by Deathstroke from Philadelphia to Chicago, where he solved a murder case and noticed certain inconsistencies with the pattern of the killings.

He quickly deduced the next victim's identity as Lisa, the murderer of the case he had solved, and tried to rescue her but ended up taking a bullet in the back as Lisa thought that he was Deathstroke in disguise.

After the gunshot sound had lured Deathstroke on the scene Jack turned into the Creeper and briefly battled the assailant before finding out that he wasn't Deathstroke but the local reverend, who had grown tired of gun violence and had decided to end it by killing criminals, still the reverend managed to defeat the Creeper and ran away. Jack later tracked down the reverend to the church but found him dead at the hands of the real Deathstroke, who had come to Chicago to kill the man who was using his identity.^[11]

For GNN News, he reported on the destruction of K'kyesh, Qurac, by the divine weapon the Bow of Ra,^[13] and as the Creeper, he was anonymously invited by Bizarroto the headquarters of his team of vigilantes the Outlaws to be offered membership. There, he was attacked by Artemis, with whom he was familiar^[14] for killings committed on behalf of Lex Luthor at Hierve el Agua years prior.^[15] Though her teammate Bizarro defused the conflict, the Creeper declined to join them.^[14]

While on location in Syria, Jack Ryder was abducted by the Kobra Cult but was rescued by Black Adam before he could be executed. As the Creeper, he was among the first metahumans to seek asylum in Adam's nation of Kahndaq.^[4] He joined Adam in an attack on Jerusalem in the nearby nation of Israel,^[16] and watched with the people of Kahndaq when Superman came to the country.^[17] While most of the world's superheroes were indisposed on Mars, the Creeper and Adam's metahumans attacked the United Nations Building in New York City, fighting a defending Wonder Woman until she was recalled by the Amazons of Paradise Island. From there, they proceeded to Washington, D.C. to confront the President of the United States on the White House lawn and call for a metahuman revolution. They were met, however, by Superman,^[18] and their conflict erupted into a brawl between the metahumans of many nations on the streets of Washington. With his allies, the Creeper attacked Superman, but was telepathically repulsed by Saturn Girl, who led the Legion of Super-Heroes and Justice Society of America to his rescue.^[19]

Ryder later operated as the Creeper in Gotham City, once more an ostensibly heroic vigilante.^[20] In his civilian identity, he hosted the traveling national news program Don't Ask! with Jack Ryder. He came into possession of security camera footage identifying the young podcaster Billy Batson as the alter ego of the superhero the Captain, and brought his show to Batson's home of Fawcett City, where he discovered the supervillain the Shadow Thief to also be active. As the Creeper, he erased the original footage to protect the Captain's identity, and as Jack Ryder, brought Batson on to Don't Ask! as a guest. On the show, Ryder put on an aggressive persona to serve his audience's appetite for conflict, insulting his fellow hero Metamorpho and suggesting that Batson's public championing of the Captain was financially motivated. While driving Batson home, Ryder tricked him into saying the word "Shazam," triggering his transformation into the Captain, and forcibly recruits him to foil a plot by the Shadow Thief to hold the World Fiduciary Council for ransom. They boarded the train from which the villain had drawn his captives into a shadow dimension, and when he derailed it, the Creeper rescued its crew, terrifying them in the process. While the Captain summoned a bolt of lightning to flush the Thief out of the shadows in which he hid, the Creeper seized the exposed villain and forced him to free the councilmembers. As Jack Ryder, he secured the hostages with Batson before returning home only to be ambushed by an offended Metamorpho.^[21]

The Creeper also frequented New York City's Demon Bar, where he was one of many patrons encountered by the Drummer of the Outsiders in her search for the extra-fictional entity ♄🜨♆♌︎γ🝪🝓.^[22] On behalf of Wham News, Ryder attended a Kord Industries press conference where he asked Victoria Kord about her company's coming announcement of defense technology while espousing his viewership's anti-alien and metahuman beliefs.^[23] The Creeper was present in the magical Oblivion Bar when Superman arrived and called on its patrons to join his war against the anti-superhuman Bureau of Sovereignty,^[24] and later joined the expansive membership of the Justice League Unlimited. On the promenade of their satellite headquarters, he sat with several of his magically-powered teammates, drinking.^[25]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Transformation: In moments of need Jack can transform into the Creeper.
  • Regeneration: Whenever Jack turns into the Creeper all of his wounds are healed.^[11]
  • Superhuman Agility^[4]
  • Superhuman Durability: The Creeper can survive a bullet to the head with no issues, it once took multiple gunshots just to make him pass out.^[11]
  • Superhuman Strength^[4]

Abilities

• Journalism
• Intimidation: The Creeper uses his bizarre appearance and persona to overwhelm opponents.^[21]
• Investigation: Jack Ryder can quickly resolve a murder case just by taking a quick look at a murder scene. ^[11]

Weaknesses

• Mental Disorder: In the assessment of Department of Metahuman Affairs agent David Drake, Ryder was mentally unstable.^[4]
  • Alcoholism^[9]
• Power Instability: Jack doesn't have much control over the Creeper's actions, and has also stated that every time he transforms the Creeper is reluctant to give him back control over his body.^[11]

Notes

• Jack Ryder was created by Steve Ditko and Don Segall, first appearing in Showcase #73. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Jack Ryder first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Justice League International (Volume 3) #1 by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti.

Related

• 44 Appearances of Jack Ryder (Prime Earth)
• 12 Images featuring Jack Ryder (Prime Earth)
• 1 Quotations by or about Jack Ryder (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Jack Ryder (Prime Earth)

Footnotes

Justice League member This character has been a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.